A thriller with surprises aplenty and a breezy pace that includes well-written characters and the singular challenge of looking for truth “in a sea of professional liars and seducers,” this novel is sure to have wide appeal.
Stage’s latest (after The Girl Who Outgrew the World) feels like a nice bookend to her Bram Stoker Award–nominated debut novel, Baby Teeth, an LJ Best Book of 2018. A great choice for fans of intense psychological horror where nothing can be trusted and no one can look away from the emerging nightmare, such as in Now You’re One of Us by Asa Nonami or The Unsuitable by Molly Pohlig.
The series never ceases to be fascinating, making characters sink or swim as lives are on the line and the story veers in unexpected direction. Required reading for any suspense fan.
This character-driven mystery flips convention on its head when the straight amateur sleuth is an outsider to the drag community where her best friend is welcome.
Told with Rouda’s signature first-person technique, this is a guilty-pleasure read, laden with silver-tongued politicians who revel in their duplicitous dance with the truth. It’s a deliciously diabolical take on marriage, politics, and the lies that bind.
Hall conveys the racist atmosphere of a small town and writes knowingly of extreme family dysfunction, but the meandering narrative, self-gaslighting protagonist, and several plot holes weaken the story.